Blueprint for Success: A Construction Industry Guide for Agents
The construction industry is undergoing a lot of change. Watch as experts from Travelers and several key construction sectors discuss trending issues. Understanding these issues helps agents keep the edge they need – today and tomorrow.
General contractor challenges: From site security to subcontractors
General contractors are responsible for the overall management of construction projects. Watch as Adam Kallstrom of Travelers visits a job site in the Northeast where multiple specialty subcontractors must coordinate on work.
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A red umbrella logo: Travelers. Text: General Contractor: What You Need to Know. Adam Kallstrom, AVP, Construction, Energy and Marine, Travelers. Workers in hard hats and reflective vests work on a construction site near train tracks.
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ADAM KALLSTROM: I lead a group of industry-edge construction professionals at Travelers. And our folks are really meant to empower our underwriters with deep construction expertise and knowledge, we provide training -- to really support the construction customer.
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Construction workers do exercises, swinging their arms together. A scaffold bridge spans a river. Heavy machinery is parked nearby.
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We're here today in Norwalk, Connecticut, at the Walk Bridge project, and we're working with general contractors who are going to be replacing the existing bridge with a new hydraulic bridge.
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A silver train crosses the bridge. Matt Riley, Project Director, Cianbro.
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MATT RILEY: This corridor is the main commuter corridor for rail traffic from New Haven to New York City. The biggest challenge with train traffic is you can't just move it around like you can with interstate traffic and open up work areas.
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Workers talk near large pipes stacked on the ground.
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ADAM KALLSTROM: General contractors typically sit at the top of the food chain in any given construction project. They also assume a tremendous amount of financial responsibility on any given project.
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A train speeds on the tracks overhead.
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The Walk Bridge project is a very unique operation. One, it's divided by a river. The second, because of the location, there just is a higher level of exposure to having things go missing from the job site.
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A large drill spins. Machinery floats on a barge beneath the bridge.
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So securing the site is a key exposure that general contractors are responsible for. Our risk control consultants do a lot of site survey work to help contractors identify where they may have weaknesses in protecting their overall job site from theft and vandalism.
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Workers carry materials out of a shipping container.
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CRT, contractual risk transfer, this is for general contractors, really their key exposure that they face, right? Because they have so many different relationships on a project.
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A crane lowers parts over the construction site dug into the ground. Workers carry beams across a catwalk below the bridge.
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And so as they work with other subcontractors, they want to transfer that liability or that risk to those subcontractors.
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A machine lays down a large pipe on the barge.
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Projects like the Walk Bridge are so complex. The biggest challenge is really making sure that all of the subcontractors that you have on site are qualified to do the work and to make sure that that work is executed appropriately.
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Workers direct a delivery van and measure pieces of wood.
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They also are responsible to make sure that the project is completed in the manner in which it was designed and specified to prevent future construction defect risks from happening after a project is complete. We have dedicated underwriters. We have dedicated risk control consultants, and we have dedicated claims professionals so that we can help our customers, one, get their employees home safe, two, make sure that the contractual risk transfer for general contractors is done appropriately.
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Workers don full bodysuits.
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And we really want to help them identify critical exposures that they may face and better ways that they can help mitigate some of those exposures.
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A red umbrella logo: Travelers. General Contractors: Want to Know More? Visit travelers dot com slash Construction Blueprint. © 2024 The Travelers Indemnity Company. All rights reserved. Travelers and the Travelers Umbrella logo are registered trademarks of The Travelers Indemnity Company in the U.S. and other countries.
Bridge contractor challenges: From cranes to construction defect claims
Bridge contractors are responsible for designing and building bridges and other highway-related structures. Watch as Perron Wiley of Travelers discusses some of the work zone, crane and environmental risks at these construction sites.
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Logo: Travelers. Text: Bridge Contractors: What You Need to Know. A Blueprint for Success. A man wears a Travelers Construction-branded pullover. Text: Perron Wiley, Director, Construction, Energy and Marine, Travelers.
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I'm an industry edge director within our construction, energy and marine group. My primary role there is really to support our construction underwriters across the country.
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Railroad ties lay in stacks. Harnesses hang from hooks. A train rolls by.
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The Walk Bridge project involves the replacement of a 127-year-old swing bridge. This bridge has a 100-year life span, which it has far exceeded at this point.
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Workers walk on the metal bridge. From below, a brick wall supports the bridge.
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So there are about 175 passenger trains that cross that bridge daily.
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Green metal supports cross in X shapes below the bridge. A train rumbles over it.
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Every time I think about bridge construction, I focus on cranes just because cranes are some of the most expensive pieces of equipment, some of the most pivotal pieces of equipment on the job site, and also could create some of the most severe losses that we find on the job site as well.
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Cranes sit on the job site. An arm of a yellow crane reaches high into the sky.
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We also want to make sure and ask questions if those cranes are owned by the bridge contractor, if they are renting cranes to others and if there's contractual language in place if they are renting cranes from other operations.
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One crane sits behind another, the arms of the two cranes creating a V shape.
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Construction defect is a really important exposure for us that we like to consider and underwrite very thoroughly just to make sure that that project is being reviewed regularly, so construction defect issues are pointed out early and ahead of time before they become larger issues.
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Pieces of wood and metal sit stacked at the job site.
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So when you think about bridge construction and the composition of their auto fleet, oftentimes vehicles might be carrying oils, or aggregate or different types of materials that have risks of being discharged into nearby bodies of water.
You also have to worry about disrupting the natural habitat for wildlife near bodies of water or other areas where bridges are being constructed. And we do have a contractors pollution liability team that helps mitigate some of those environmental issues.
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A gull flies over the river near the bridge. A thin yellow tube curves across the river.
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Working with bridge contractors, it's exciting for me because there are a lot of exposures. At Travelers, we help bridge contractors with a lot of those exposures and identify various different types of controls that we can implement to help those contractors on the job site.
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Workers in construction helmets and hi-vis vests stand on the bridge job site. Logo: Travelers. Bridge Contractors: Want to Know More? Visit travelers dot com slash Construction Blueprint. © Copyright 2024 The Travelers Indemnity Company. All rights reserved. Travelers and the Travelers Umbrella logo are registered trademarks of The Travelers Indemnity Company in the U.S. and other countries.